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As they drew closer, she saw the crowds. A great field of motor cars and carriages. And women in frilly dresses with tiny waists, like her own. Men in straw hats like the American. And many Arabs with their camels, and armfuls of cheap necklaces. She smiled.
In her time they had sold cheap jewelry here to the visiting Romans. They had peddled rides on their camels. They were doing the very same thing now!
But it took her breath away, the great tomb of King Kufu looming above her. When had it been that she had come here, a small girl, and seen this huge structure made up of square blocks? And then with Ramses, later, alone in the cool of the night, when she'd been wrapped in a dark robe, a common woman, riding with him along this very same road.
Ramses! No, something horrid that she did not want to remember. The dark waters rushing over her. She had been walking towards him, and he had been backing away!
The American motor car jerked to a halt again.
"Come on, little lady, let's get out and see it. Seventh wonder of the world."
She smiled at the chubby-faced American; so gentle with her he was.
"Okaaaay! Super!" she said. She jumped down from the high open seat before he could give her a helping hand.
Her body was very close to his. His chubby nose crinkled as he smiled at her. Sweet young mouth. She kissed him suddenly. She stood on tiptoe and embraced him. Hmmmm. Sweet and young like the other. And so surprised!
"Well, you sure are an affectionate little thing," he said in her ear. He didn't seem to know what to do now. Well, she would show him. She took his hand and they walked over the beaten sand towards the pyramids.
"Ah, look!" she said, pointing to the palace that had been built to the right.
"Ah, that's the Mena House," he said. "Not a bad hotel, either. It's not Shepheard's, but it's okay. We can have a bite to eat there later, if you like."
"I tried to fight them," Ramses said. "It was impossible. There were simply too many. They took me away to the jail. I needed time to heal. It must have been a half hour before I managed to escape."
Silence.
Julie had buried her face in her handkerchief.
"Sire," Samir said gently. "You knew this elixir could do such a thing?"
"Yes, Samir. I knew, though I had never put it to such a test."
"Then it was human nature, sire. No more and no less."
"Ah, but Samir, I have made so many blunders over the centuries. I knew the dangers of the chemical. And you must know those dangers now too. You must know if you are to help me. This creature--this mad thing which I've brought back to life cannot be destroyed."
"Surely there is some way," Samir said.
"No. I've learned this through trial and error. And your modern biology books, they've sharpened my understanding. Once the cells of the body are saturated with the elixir, they renew themselves constantly. Plant, animal, human--it is all the same."
"No age, no deterioration," Julie murmured. She was calmer now, she could trust her voice.
"Precisely. One full cup made me immortal. No more than the contents of that vial. I am eternally in the prime of life. I don't need food, yet I am always hungry. I don't need sleep, yet I can enjoy it. I have perpetually the desire to ... make love."
"And this woman--she did not receive the full measure."
"No, and she was damaged to begin with! That was my folly, don't you see! The body was not all there! But damaged or no, she is now virtually unstoppable. I understood that when she came towards me through the corridor! Don't you see?"
"You're not thinking in terms of modern science," Julie said. She wiped both her eyes slowly. "There must be a way to halt the process."
"On the other hand, if you were to give her the full measure-more of the medicine, as the Earl put it ..."
"That's madness," Julie interjected. "You can't even consider it. You'll make the thing stronger."
"Listen, both of you," Ramses said, "to what I have to say. Cleopatra is only part of this tragedy. The Earl knows the secret now with certainty. It is the elixir itself that is dangerous, more dangerous than you know."
"People will want it, yes," Julie said, "and they will do anything to get it. But Elliott can be reasoned with, and Henry is a fool."
